The present invention relates to adsorbent devices used for containing and removing liquid hydrocarbon fuels and lubricants that are leaked and spilled in the marine environment.
For marine vessel fueling facilities, there is a need to capture and contain liquid hydrocarbon fuels before they can be spilled or leaked on to the surface of the water as part of the routine fueling of vessels. Spills of this nature occur when fuel is forced out of the fuel tank of a vessel via the ventilation system of the fuel tank when it is filled to capacity or beyond, or by allowing fuel to overflow from the fuel intake port during the fueling process. Spills and leaks of fuels, stored in auxiliary fuel tanks for use in equipment such as outboard motors, are also common problems, occurring during filling and use of such auxiliary fuel tanks. The spilled fuel is then free to spread over the surface of the water.
The task of containing these spills is necessary to prevent the liquid hydrocarbons spilled or leaked on the surface of the water from spreading throughout the marine fueling facility area and polluting the adjacent waterways.
The most common method of eliminating the sheen on the water caused by these spills is to pour a dispersant such as liquid dishwashing soap on the spill. The dispersant breaks up the oily sheen into tiny particles of hydrocarbon that remain in the water and not visible to the eye without the aid of magnification. This is the most prevalent treatment of spills generated at marine fueling facilities and is currently a violation of numerous federal and state regulations and statutes with regard to the use of dispersants in the handling of spills.
Seldom is an effort made to extract the pollutants from the surface of the water when such spills occur, leaving the hydrocarbons in the water to spread throughout the adjacent waterway and pollute the environment.
Another method of dealing with spills and leaks at marina fueling facilities is to place sorbent devices such as pads, pillows and booms on the surface of the water to collect the spilled fuel. The sorbent devices are removed from the surface of the water when they have collected the liquid hydrocarbons. Little pressure is required to release the liquid hydrocarbons from the sorbent devices, thus changing the pollutant from a water borne marine contaminate into a land contaminate. The issue of proper disposal of a free flowing contaminate remains. The use of this type of sorbent devices is labor intensive, time consuming, messy and poses a potential threat of ground water pollution.
The prior art methods of dealing with liquid hydrocarbon spills at marine fueling facilities after they occur do not provide a means to contain, collect and dispose of the spills before they can reach the surface of the water. Such spills are extremely harmful to the marine environment immediately surrounding the fueling facility as well as posing a variety of health and safety hazards. The placement of a liquid detergent on the surface of the water to disperse the sheen does not remove the liquid hydrocarbons from the water. Even though the telltale sheen is removed from sight, the emulsified liquid hydrocarbons are allowed to become part of the water column.
Sorbent devices seldom recover all of the spilled fuel due to the length of time involved to deploy them and the small amount of time required for the sheen of a small amount of spilled fuel to cover a large surface area of water. Liquid hydrocarbons gathered from the surface of the water using these sorbing devices tend to release the hydrocarbons back into the environment as free flowing pollutants. When sorbent devices are extracted from the water, gravity and the column weight of the sorbed water and hydrocarbons cause the liquids to drain from the devices and back in to the environment. Once removed from the water, these sorbent device allow the sorbed pollutants to leech into the environment when they are exposed to very little pressure. Since the pollutants are never completely extracted from the water, either by emulsifying them with dispersants or totally collecting them with sorbent devices, they remain in the water to contaminate the area adjacent to the fueling facility. Marinelife and wildlife are effected by the pollution. The accumulation of liquid hydrocarbons on the surface of the water renders the water unfit for drinking or marine recreation activities as it presents a variety of health and safety hazards. The free release of pollutants into the marine environment at marine fueling facilities poses a number of concerns that are not addressed using the present method of eliminating the sheen from the surface of the water at these facilities.